There was so much booze in the air at a frat party that it registered on a Breathalyzer

It happened at a suburban Washington D.C. frat house

Author:
USA Today

Published:
4:11 PM EST December 21, 2017

Updated:
4:11 PM EST December 21, 2017

The phrase “drink in the atmosphere” just got a new meaning.

Yes, there was so much alcohol flowing at a fraternity party in suburban Washington, D.C., that the air in the building tested positive on a Breathalyzer, according to court documents reported in local media.

Police raided the November party at a house in Bethesda, Md., which had been advertised online as a “Tequila Tuesday,” after complaints from neighbors.

According to court documents, officers found windows covered with insulation, trash bags, beer cans and liquor bottles everywhere and a floor sticky with spilled alcohol. When tested with a Breathalyzer, the air inside the home registered a .01. A score of .08 makes a person legally drunk in the state.

Meanwhile, eight partygoers locked themselves in a bathroom, while another jumped out of a second-story window in an effort to avoid police, local TV station WJLA reported.

As about 70 people emerged from the house, according to TV station WJZ, officers processed the partygoers with Breathalyzers. Most of them were underage.

Six men who lived at the house — Jeffrey Becker, Ashton Acosta, Anthony Santana, Kevin Alkinburg, Matthew Berger and Tristan Ralph — all 20, were charged with 126 counts each of allowing underage possession of alcohol and furnishing alcohol to a minor.

All six are members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and attend American University, according to court papers cited by WJLA. The cases are still pending.